Hundreds of migrants from war-torn Syria and other Middle Eastern countries have been blocked in the attempt to reach sanctuary in northern Europe by the closure of borders all the way through the Balkans from Macedonia to Austria.

On a visit to Washington on Monday Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the scenes at the Macedonian border that “are proof that we can try and find national solutions, but they won't solve anything.”

Vienna was the first capital to announce it would be closing its borders, setting of a chain reaction which led to border gates being closed throughout the Balkan region.

Austria also announced in late February it would only accept 80 asylum applications a day, while it would allow a thousands of refugees to pass through its territory towards Germany. Berlin responded by calling the decision “unacceptable.”

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Germany's critics in southern and eastern Europe, who feel that Merkel is strong-arming them into accepting Germany's will, are likely see the call made by migrants for Merkel's help as further proof that Berlin has encouraged people to migrate illegally into Europe.

On March 7th European leaders will meet with their Turkish counterparts to try and hammer out better cooperation on stopping the migrant flow across the Aegean Sea into Greece.

Germany has already warned that the summit is a make-or-break moment in the crisis.